NEW FELLOWS 117 2013 FELLOWS OF THE ACADEMY From active membership, there shall be a body of scholars known as "Fellows of the Virginia Academy of Science." Fellows are selected because of their contribution to science in one or more of the following ways: (a) outstanding scientific research, (b) inspired teaching of science, or (c) significant leadership in the Academy A Fellow must be nominated by at least three Members of the Academy Nominations should be sent to: Executive Officer Virginia Academy of Science Science Museum of Virginia 2500 W Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23220 The Executive Officer will verify receipt of nomination and membership status and forward the nominations to the Chair of the Awards Committee Final selection is by majority vote of the Academy Council The following members were elected as Fellows of the Virginia Academy of Science for 2013 Thomas W Haas, Ph.D Dr Thomas W Haas received a B.S degree in mechanical engineering from SUNY Buffalo, a M.S degree in engineering mechanics from Pennsylvania State University, and M.A and PH.D degrees in Aerospace and Mechanical Science from Princeton University in the Polymer Materials Program A member of the Academy since 1985, Dr Hass was elected President Elect of the Academy and became the 76th President at the 1998 Annual Meeting, having served as both Secretary and Chair of the Engineering Section Tom chaired the Local Virginia Journal of Science, Vol 64, No 1, 2013 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol64/iss1 118 VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Arrangements Committee for both the 1989 and 1996 Annual Meetings held at Virginia Commonwealth University He currently serves as Councilor for the Biomedical and General Engineering Section Dr Haas joined Virginia Commonwealth University in 1983 as Professor and Director of the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program, a consortium of Virginia engineering schools offering graduate programs leading to a master's degree in engineering delivered by interactive television from the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University, and Old Dominion University He also served as Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs of the new VCU School of Engineering from 1995 to 1999 In addition to having teaching experience at the University of Illinois, Stevens Institute of Technology, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, he has held research, development, and engineering positions at Philip Morris USA, ICI Americas, American Standard, Inc, and AT&T Bell Laboratories Tom is also a Past President of the Society of Plastic Engineers, an international society of 30,000 members Prior to assuming the post of Society President in 1982, he was a member of the SPE Executive Committee and was Secretary, Second Vice President, and President-Elect He also served for ten years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) representing the Society of Plastic Engineers A Distinguished M ember of SPE, he is also a Fellow of the Plastics and Rubber Institute (now the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining) in the United Kingdom and a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Society of Rheology (SOR), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), having served as the 2000-2001 Chair of the Central Virginia ASME Section Tom is currently a past chair and Executive Director of the Richmond Joint Engineers’ Council (RJEC) Tom’s research expertise is in plastics and biopolymers His research interests include crystallization and morphology, mechanical and physical properties, plastics in medical devices, electro-spinning of biopolymers and polymer processing He has a number of papers, patents, and publications pertaining to plastics and polymers Virginia Journal of Science, Vol 64, No 1, 2013 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol64/iss1 ... member of the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) representing the Society of Plastic Engineers A Distinguished M ember of SPE, he is also a Fellow of. .. a Past President of the Society of Plastic Engineers, an international society of 30,000 members Prior to assuming the post of Society President in 1982, he was a member of the SPE Executive... Fellow of the Plastics and Rubber Institute (now the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining) in the United Kingdom and a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Society of Rheology